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What’s Up Ohio – Ohio Capital Journal

• Husted can’t testify in person in corruption trial due to Iran war, but came to Ohio for fundraiser March 9, 2026
  U.S. Sen. Jon Husted can’t leave Washington, D.C., to testify in the largest public corruption trial in Ohio history due to the “Iran war,” the defense attorneys said, but did find time to return to the state to attend a fundraiser. The senator’s team understands the poor optics, they said, but argued that the virtual […]
• Abortion rights advocates say new 24-hour waiting period bill conflicts with Ohio Constitution March 9, 2026
  Opponents of Ohio legislation that seeks to reimpose a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion said the bill not only conflicts with the constitution, but discriminates against reproductive health care. The Ohio House Health Committee met to hear testimony against Ohio House Bill 347, a bill that only allows an abortion if a physician meets […]
• Ohio Senate passes bill that codifies antisemitism definition and examples March 9, 2026
  The Ohio Senate passed a bill last week that would define antisemitism for state agency investigations, but not criminal investigations.   Ohio Senate Bill 87 passed 27-4 during last Wednesday’s Senate session. The bill now heads to the Ohio House for consideration.  Ohio Democratic Senators Catherine Ingram, Kent Smith, Paula Hicks-Hudson, and Ohio Senate Minority […]
• New report shows Ramaswamy’s tax plan would cause deep cuts and higher taxes for Ohio families March 9, 2026
  Ohio families are already struggling, and one gubernatorial candidate’s tax plan would make things even worse. As we lay out in a new policy report from our organization, Innovation Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy’s tax plan would be devastating for Ohio communities. It would cut schools, health care, and other essential programs while giving a huge tax break to […]
• A group seeks to eliminate Ohio property taxes. Experts warn it would create devastating budget cuts March 6, 2026
  A group of activists is seeking to amend the Ohio Constitution to ban property taxes. Rankings show Ohio property taxes are relatively high, but policy experts say eliminating property taxes would cause devastating budget cuts across public services. According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, Ohio had the eighth-highest effective property tax rate in 2023 — […]
• Ohio House waits on data center study vote, hints at veto override on sales tax exemption March 6, 2026
  After rapidly advancing a bill to study data centers through committee, Ohio House lawmakers took a beat Wednesday, and held off on putting the measure to a floor vote. But that pause, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman said, wasn’t a matter of cold feet. “I like the data center commission,” he said before the House […]